It was a strong dream, but Verstappen and Red Bull imposed their law to take victory at the Canadian GP. Carlos Sainz held second position for almost the entire race and a Safety Car that ended with 15 laps to go gave him hope, but he could do nothing to beat the champion, who is increasingly leading.
Carlos, who came within DRS shot of his rival for many moments at the end of the race, finished less than a second, specifically 0.993s. The Spaniard had to settle for adding 19 points (18 + 1 from the fastest lap) after overtaking Alonso in the first laps and moving away, when the safety car finished, from the Mercedes.
Among the Silver Arrows, Hamilton stayed ahead of Russell and completed the podium, the Englishman’s first since the season-opening Bahrain GP back in March.
Fernando Alonso was condemned by a Virtual Safety Car that ended very early and did not allow him to make a first pitstop without losing too much time, and the Asturian, who had maintained his podium options, even finished behind his teammate Ocon , seventh. Ahead of them, a Charles Leclerc who, despite a bad stop by Ferrari and despite spending many laps without being able to pass Ocon, climbed back to fifth place (he started 19th).
That neutralization that affected Alonso’s aspirations had been caused by a breakdown in Mick Schumacher’s Haas, which came after Pérez ‘s Red Bull also left the Mexican thrown when they had only been 8 laps. Checo Pérez, whose Grand Prix began to go wrong in his accident in Q2 on Saturday, leaves Montreal empty but holds on to second place in the world championship.
After the Alpines, the top 10 was completed by the Alfa Romeos (with Valtteri Bottas attacking Alonso on the last lap) and a Lance Stroll who was able to make the comeback that his teammate Vettel, on an unfortunate Sunday, could not.
F1 CANADA GP 2022 RACE RESULTS
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
70 | – | 25 | ||
| two |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
70 | 0.993 | 0.993 | 0.993 | 19 |
| 3 |  Lewis Hamilton |
 |
70 | 7.006 | 7.006 | 6.013 | 15 |
| 4 | George Russell |
|
70 | 12.313 | 12.313 | 5.307 | 12 |
| 5 |  Charles Leclerc |
|
70 | 15.168 | 15.168 | 2.855 | 10 |
| 6 |  Esteban Ocon |
 |
70 | 23.890 | 23.890 | 8.722 | 8 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
70 | 24.945 | 24.945 | 1.055 | 6 |
| 8 |  Valtteri Bottas |
 |
70 | 25.247 | 25.247 | 0.302 | 4 |
| 9 |  Guanyu Zhou |
 |
70 | 26.952 | 26.952 | 1.705 | 2 |
| 10 |  Lance Stroll |
 |
70 | 38.222 | 38.222 | 11.270 | 1 |
| see results | |||||||
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F1 CANADIAN GP 2022 RACE SUMMARY
Calm Canadian race start: Verstappen leads as Sainz passes Alonso
At the start, Verstappen had no problem keeping the lead, nor did Alonso take second place despite not having the best start. Hamilton came close to surprising Sainz, but the Spaniard held on well inside the first chicane to hold on to third place despite a blockage. For his part, Hamilton suffered a touch from Magnussen, which damaged the Haas’ front wing.
Of the two ‘bigs’ who started from behind, both Pérez and Leclerc gained a position on the first lap, and both added another one on lap 2. As soon as Sainz was able to open DRS, on lap 3, he passed without flinching to a Alonso who became prey to Hamilton. However, the Ferrari driver did not escape, which helped the Alpine driver to have DRS to defend against the seven-time champion.
Sainz already announced graining on the left front tire at the start of lap 6, and Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly made a stop at the same time to switch to the hard compound very early on. Russell passed Kevin Magnussen and started closing in on Hamilton, who couldn’t keep up with Sainz (who was doing fast laps), and Alonso.
Abandonment of Pérez in Canada and first stop of the leader
Magnussen was shown an orange and white flag for his broken wing, and was forced to stop. However, the big problem for Red Bull came on lap 8, when the car dropped Sergio Pérez, causing the first retirement of the race and the appearance of a Virtual Safety Car .
Hamilton took the opportunity to make his stop while the race was neutralized, and rejoined the track behind Ocon in sixth place. And, to the surprise of many, the leader Verstappen did the same, leaving the first place in the hands of Sainz.
When the race resumed, Ocon was unable to fend off Hamilton, which would have helped Alonso, who saw Sainz drift far away. In fact, on lap 15 and with DRS Verstappen he stole second place. At that time the Dutchman was, after stopping, 5.5 behind Sainz, with 55 laps still to go.
Abandonment of Mick Schumacher that changes part of the Canadian race
On lap 20, while battling with Zhou for seventh place, Mick Schumacher had to park his car with engine problems, just as Russell was coming in. A Virtual Safety Car period was established and those who had not yet made their stop took the opportunity to do so, as well as a Vettel who made his second pitstop. In fact McLaren F1 made a double stop, and Ricciardo suffered a very slow one, which also caused Norris to lose time.
However, the race quickly resumed, which prevented Alpine from putting in Alonso. Sainz had returned just ahead of Hamilton, and two seconds behind Fernando, who was quickly passed by both Carlos and Lewis.
On lap 28 Alonso finally made his stop, and rejoined behind a Leclerc who had been lapping for several laps looking to steal fifth position from Ocon.
Stabilized race and tense calm in Canada
Positions stabilized as Leclerc failed to pass Ocon, and the greatest excitement shifted to the fight for ninth and tenth position, where Stroll held on ahead of Zhou, Tsunoda and Ricciardo.
Ahead, Sainz was confident that Verstappen’s tires would not last until the end (they were 11 laps older), and George Russell, Leclerc and the Alpines expected the same from Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari asked Leclerc for his opinion on whether to go to plan C, seeing that the Monegasque was unable to overtake Ocon.
On lap 42, he finally made his pitstop (slow, in 5.3 seconds) to put mediums and attack until the end. However, that Ferrari problem at the stop caused it to come back right behind the little Stroll-Zhou-Tsunoda-Ricciardo train.
Verstappen and Safety Car stop that animates the race in Canada
Verstappen had complained about his tires and at the end of lap 43 the leader came on, leaving the lead to Sainz. In fact, the Dutchman rejoined behind his rival in 2021, a Hamilton with several pending accounts to settle.
But, on new tyres, Verstappen was quickly taken off him, and Hamilton was instantly in as well, with 33 laps on his tyres. Sainz and Ferrari were expecting a Safety Car which came out on lap 49 when Yuki Tsunoda went off track.
The Italians put Sainz in and mounted new hard ones. Alpine made a double stop, and Alonso put mediums. The race was neutralized and when it resumed there were 15 laps left. There, Verstappen was leading ahead of Sainz, with Hamilton third, Russell fourth, Ocon fifth, Alonso sixth and Leclerc seventh.
Verstappen couldn’t get away and Sainz was soon within shot of DRS. For his part, on lap 58 Leclerc overtook Alonso to be sixth, and then he would do the same with Ocon on two occasions despite having to give him back the place on the first occasion for skipping a corner.
Sainz’s pursuit of Verstappen was eternal, less than a second practically on each lap, but with no real possibility of overtaking him.
The next race, in two weeks at Silverstone .
